Tandem Turkey 2013-14

"On April 2013 I applied for Tandem Turkey-EU Cultural Managers Exchange programme on behalf of my organisation. It was not my first international project but I must confess that at the time I didn’t know exactly what this Tandem programme was about. I just had an idea and needed funds and a partner organization to make it real. My idea fitted with the call for projects that I read on a newsletter so I applied, and that was all. But was that all? Definitely NOT."
By Noemi Sas Castilleja, a quote from "Looking back: random thoughts on my Tandem experience".

Partner Forum in Izmir

The Partner Forum is a very exiting opportunity to meet a wide variety of cultural practitioners and dream up potential projects. It's a very generous and open exchange, a real opportunity to forge links with a country which is a hinge between the west and east, secularism and religion.

Jon Davis

Tandem offers a great opportunity for organisations that wish to get to know different cultures and widen their horizon by doing an intercultural project. It gives them a chance for direct and personal cooperation, shared learning sessions and comprehensive communication.

Participant of Partner Forum in Izmir 2013

For a Cultural Manager, Tandem is one of the warmest occasions to meet a colleague.

Etem Sahin

Partner Forum in Izmir, June 2013

Kick-off Meeting in Berlin

Networking, Networking, Networking (x32)
A mantra from the very beginning. And not only among the 32 participants of this Tandem edition, but within other Tandem programs and editions (Tandem Shaml, Tandem C&P) whose participants we had the opportunity to meet over the meetings celebrated around.

Better still, we had the opportunity of attending carefully planned visits to interesting cultural projects to get an impression of the cultural dynamics at every city we visited. To give an idea of what it actually means, imagine the potential networking that could come out from visits to cultural projects in Izmir, Berlin (twice), Budapest and Istambul. Beyond this, there was the placement at the partner organisation plus other mobility opportunities that appeared during the program.

All of this surrounded by colleagues with a high level of creativity and motivation. Just think what can arise when sharing crazy ideas with other cultural professionals after distancing yourself for a few days from "real life".

Noemi Sas Castilleja

Emrah Gokdemir captured some moments during the Kick-off Meeting in Berlin for you.

Interim Meeting in Budapest

The participants met in Budapest in April 2014 to evaluate the culture and art projects they are carrying out, to attend workshops on the publicity of international projects, and share their experiences.

Visits to culture and art institutions such as Ludwig Museum, National Theater, Jurányi Art Incubator House, Bakelit, Trafó, and Kreatív Kolónia operating in Budapest were conducted throughout the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Pro Progressione and KEK-Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Center, participating in Tandem from Hungary.

15 projects produced in several fields ranging from photography to contemporary art, hip-hop to theater supported in Tandem 2013-2014 gained momentum following the Interim Meeting held in Budapest.

Final Events in Berlin and Istanbul

Two closing events, one in Berlin and the other in Istanbul, were organised following the completion of 15 projects. The Tandems showed their work in October also in studio x in Istanbul. Through “Art Walks” visitors explored various neighbourhoods in Istanbul. They were organised by one of the turkish participating organisations Grizine.

More than 40 participants from two Tandem programmes, Turkey–EU and Community & Participation, presented their collaboration work: from cultural heritage to digital media and from youth theatre to community arts in Berlin in September 2014. Have a look through the flickr gallery.

My perspective on Turkey definitly changed through participating in the programme. My partner introduced me to artists in Istanbul and Ankara and showed me places I would have never seen without her. Also through the support of the programme organisation, the possibility to have placements and visit each other, I had a chance to discover Turkey in a more profound way than I could have ever done as a regular tourist.